Studiocanal UK nabs ‘Alan Partridge’

Pic stars Steve Coogan; Declan Lowney helms

LONDON — Studiocanal has picked up U.K. theatrical rights to “The Alan Partridge Movie,” which will star Steve Coogan in the bigscreen debut of his most famous TV character.

The film is set to start shooting next January, and has already inked a U.K. release on Aug. 16. That mid-August date launched “The Inbetweeners Movie” to a $70 million gross in 2011, and this year will see the opening of another TV comedy spin-off, “Keith Lemon: The Film.”

“The Alan Partridge Movie” is a Baby Cow/Studiocanal production, financed by BBC Films with development coin from the BFI Film Fund. International sales are being handled by Embankment Films.

It stars Coogan as the failed TV chatshow host, trying to cling onto his grandiose delusions and rebuild his career at North Norfolk Digital Radio.

It will be directed by Declan Lowney (“Father Ted”), from a script by Peter Baynham, Coogan, Armando Iannucci, and Neil and Rob Gibbons.

Producers are Kevin Loader and Henry Normal, with Iannucci, Danny Perkins of Studiocanal UK, and Joe Oppenheimer and Christine Langan of BBC Films as exec producers.

Coogan is currently starring in “King of Soho,” the story of U.K. porn baron Paul Raymond, which is also produced by Studiocanal UK.